Athens and Sparta: Opposites do not AttractAthens and Sparta, two civilizations of equal power, yet unequal mindsets: their societal views caused these two great empires to face a divide unlike any other in history. Sparta, with their cold iron and colder hearts left enemies in ruin. Athens was intelligent, yet militaristically inferior to Sparta. Allies during the 1000 years war, the two faced increasing animosity that eventually climaxed in ancient Greece and the time honored test of brawn versus brain was carried out in the flesh. It was time to truly find if the pen was mightier than the sword, or if iron and wood could bludgeon and cut intellect to its bones. Sparta was an oligarchic society, their culture being run by a small group of individuals in power. Serfs and peasants tilled the fields, afraid to revolt for fear of Sparta’s harsh punishments, often leading to death. Sparta is very comparable to the Third Reich in Pre-WWII Germany. Hitler sought to breed humans in order to make a perfect DNA strand, purebred humans that were superior to others in every way. Sparta, although not educated in what DNA was, understood that an imperfect child was a weak link, and often times children that were born weak or with defects were cast off a cliff and presumed dead. In Sparta, marriage was reserved for those above the age of sixteen, which is an important factor to how physically superior their civilization was. Just a few miles from the robust civilization of Sparta laid the bustling trade center of Athens. Famous for its educational possibilities, its philosophers, and its libraries, Athens definitely sought after education over military might. Athens found their knowledge of the world to drive their civilization; they believed their understanding of mathematics and sciences would one day make their city the capitol of the entire known world. Athens was a democracy, where the citizens controlled the government as they...

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...Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta, were as similar as they were different regarding political and social structures. While Sparta kept themselves isolated from their neighbors, Athens kept themselves in contact with everyone. Sparta and Athens were both polytheistic; Sparta's patron saint was Ares and Athens' was Athena. Ares was Sparta's patron saint because Sparta was a militaristic oligarchy, meaning their government was run by a few people and revolved around warfare. Sparta's government structure consisted of two kings who served as generals to the army and ephors, elected officials who oversaw daily affairs. Athens' government adopted a policy known as direct democracy—the power of citizens to directly make decisions on laws and policies, instead of through elected representatives. Both Sparta and Athens had a Council and an Assembly. For Sparta, the Council was comprised of Spartan bred men over 60 and the two kings; they could propose and pass laws. Their Assembly consisted of 30 year old male Spartans who could veto the Council's decisions. Athens had a Council of 500 which had 50 members randomly selected from 10 districts who decided on laws proposed by the Assembly; it was democratic. The Assembly was made up of male citizens of Athens who formulated laws. When...

...Athens and SpartaAthens and Sparta were two of the mightiest, most prominent, and famous city-states in Ancient Greece. Within these two city-states there were very many similarities and differences whether that is culturally, politically, or generally. The main similarities and differences between Athens and Sparta are in their military, the role of males and females in society, and their type of government.
One of the biggest differences between Athens and Sparta was their military and their war strategies. In Athens the males were mostly part time soldiers, while in Sparta they started training from the age of 7 and that was their main focus. Athens mostly relied on building walls around their city and on hit-and-run tactics. In Athens the military power was a navy in which males served in at the age of 18 for only 2 years, while in Sparta the military power was an army with very experienced soldiers and males. In Sparta the army is what mattered to them above all.
Males and females both had aspects in common and ones that were different in Athens and Sparta. In Athens males attended school and education was very important in their society. They studied subjects such as literature, arithmetic, philosophy, and even astronomy....

...and Contrasting Classical Athens and Sparta
The classical Greek civilizations of Athens and Sparta showed some similarities, yet also showed a large number of differences. For example, these city-states had completely different views about women and their rules on female freedoms show this. Athenian women, like most of the women in other Greek city-states, were considered to be useful only for child-bearing and domestic jobs.Sparta, however, was the oddball out, giving the women of their civilization many more rights and freedoms. “Teaching a woman to read and write? What a terrible thing to do! Like feeding a vile snake on more poison.” (“Contrasting Patriarchies in Athens and Sparta”).
Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and recognizable ancient city-states in Greek history. These two civilizations showed a majority of differences over similarities, although some similarities showed such as gender relations and slavery. Athenian women had little to no rights in the society, staying mostly indoors and only being referred to as someone’s wife or someone’s mother. Sparta, while still having many more freedoms for women than Athens, also considered women to be only useful for childbearing. Both Athens and Sparta had slaves, and treated them well compared to slaves in the United...

...The Growth of Athens and Sparta
What is a city-state?
* A political system consisting of an independent city with sovereignity (the ultimate authority in the decision-making) over a fixed surrounding area for which it served as leader of religious, political, economic, and cultural life.
* They had developed when earlier tribal systems broke down and splintered groups established themselves as independent nuclei c. 1000–800 B.C.
Factors leading to the rise of Greek city-states
* The economy
* Sea power (trade)
* Kind of government(authority)
* Military defense(Sparta)
* Rich nobles who took action
* Making allies w/ other cities(war)
Government
Athens
* Limited Democracy was the Athenian form of electing a government.
* All Athenian men 18 and above can run for a government position.
* The ruler of Athens was elected annually.
Sparta
* Oligarchy was the Spartan form of electing a government.
* Government positions were only open to the highest social standing.
* Their government consists of 2 kings and an assembly of 28 people.
* Five Ephors or Spartan leaders were elected annually.
Relation of Citizens to the State
Athens
* Only adult male Athenian citizens who had completed their military training as ephebes had the right to vote in Athens.
* Three types of people excluded from...

...Was Sparta a better place than Athens?
Spartans is known for its military training while Athens lives in world of luxury. Each state has its own good or bad and you can’t say something is better at everything than another one. First of all, children are mistreated in Sparta like going to military training at the age of seven and killing “weak” babies. Who said they didn’t have the potential to become the next Plato. In order to have a pure race Spartans started to kill the babies who look “weak” is just as worse as murdering baby.
In Sparta, every child need to go to military training at the age of seven and the military training can definitely be say as cruel and even life threatening. Living in Athens give you a much higher rate of survival than in Sparta, at the very least, you will not endure the pain and hunger that the Spartan children gets.
Athens cares more about education. Is there anyone in Sparta who bothered to write down their own history? No! Plutarch did and he isn’t even a Spartan. Spartans teach their child fighting and stealing while Athens teaches their child reading and writing. Every invention we have today comes from ideas!
After all, Athens is definitely better than Sparta for children, since the chance of dying when the baby was considered “weak” in Sparta...

...﻿Compare and contrast the city-states of Athens and Sparta politically and culturally
In ancient times, Greece was not a united country but rather a collection of separate city-states that were in some cases similar, in other cases different politically and culturally. The two most famous, powerful and influential city-states of that period were Athens and Sparta. Although Athens andSparta had some cultural comparisons such as both were polytheistic societies sharing similar religious beliefs, their contrasts politically like Athens’s democracy and Sparta’s military oligarchy proved to be more significant.
At the first sight, Athens and Sparta had quite a few similarities culturally and politically. To begin with, both Athenians and Spartans were Greek-speaking people with the same religious beliefs. At the very early stage, first Minoans, then Mycenaeans, and finally Dorians founded and populated most of the villages and cities in ancient Greece. The culture of these people, same language, myths, and polytheistic religion where Zeus was a supreme god spread over entire Greece, including Athens and Sparta. Both Athenians and Spartans attributed human qualities, such as love, hate, jealousy, and bravery to their gods. All of the above set a common foundation for both cultures and influenced...

...Both Sparta and Athens were Greek city-states. Sparta was a strict military ruled city-state where the people established themselves as a military power early. However Athens was more of a political city-state that was more involved with their economical stature than their military forces. Still changes from the Persian wars would change the powers of the city-state and somewhat unite them.
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<br>Sparta was a strict military city-state. The people were Dorians who conquered Laconia. This region lies in the Peloponnesus, which lied in southern Greece. The invaders turned the conquered people into state owned slaves, called helots. Since the helots greatly outnumbered their rulers, Spartans established a strict and brutal system of control. The Spartan government had two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs. An assembly made up of all citizens approved all major decisions. From child-hood, a Spartan prepared to be part of the military. All newborn were examined and the healthy lived and the sickly were left to die. Spartans wanted future soldiers or mothers of soldiers to be healthy. At the age of seven, boys trained for a lifetime in the Spartan military. They moved to the barracks and endured brutal and extensive training.
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<br>Athens was located in Attica, just north of the Peloponnesus. As in many Greek city-states, Athenian government evolved from a monarchy into...

...When comparing women, or anyone for that matter, from different nationalities, it is always certain that differences will be apparent. But, in my opinion, no two females from different nationalities contrast as well as those from Sparta and Athens. They seem very similar at a first glance, but, when digging deep into the pages of history; we see that this couldn't be more to the contrary.
In both Sparta and Athens, the woman's place was in the home – but, not in the same capacity. In Athens, it was the proper etiquette for a woman to be submissive and obedient. They were to stay at home, bearing and educating children, spinning and weaving, keeping the home tidy and preparing or, at least, overseeing the preparation, of food. Spartan women, on the other hand, were almost the complete opposite to this. They were permitted to own property without the "safekeeping" of a male, which, according to Aristotle, who estimated in the 4th century BCE that two-fifths of Sparta's land was owned by women, was one of the main reasons for the "weak" Spartan society. With most men away from home on a regular basis due to training for, and taking part in, wars, women would become the "default" principal figure during that period, and, when the husbands returned, they had no authority. Sue Blendell, an associate lecturer in Classical Studies at the Open University in the UK, refers to Spartan women's...